And here you go. Chapter 10 for you to enjoy.
On a completely unrelated note I feel the need for a slight rant. Mainly the "swamping" of NaruHina stories since the release of Chapter 700. Yes, we get it they are a canon pairing but that doesn't mean every, or at least most of them, new story needs to be about that pairing or be some kind of alternate NaruSaku version for those that would have preferred that pairing. Even some of the newer Crossover stories boot Hinata into the story for the pairing or make heavy allusions to the pairing itself. Which is a shame considering that I do not want to have to deal with that when reading a crossover. It's not that I hate Hinata or have an intense dislike for her I merely find myself bored by her character.
But enough on those things I suppose.
Naturally word had spread of the epic fight between two powerful mages near Crocus. The property damage that had been caused to the surrounding area was undeniable. So of course the Magic Council had to get involved and sent a troop Rune Knights to investigate the scene of the fight as well as to question anybody that might have been involved in the incident. However the King had held his word and kept Naruto's name anonymous.
-Era, Council Chamber-
"With the amount of enviromental damage caused one might believe that Fairy Tail's been involved butnow we have another of those raving maniacs running around without even belonging to those troublemakers." a strict voice declared with a lot of annoyance as the person slammed a stack of papers onto the circular table in front of him.
This person was Org, a tall, gray haired, elderly man with a long beard and mustache. He occupied the second seat on the magic council and was known for being quite strict and a stickler for the rules.
"Calm down Org." a much younger, cocky voice said. The originator of the voice was a young man with blue hair and a red tattoo under his right eye.
"No property inside of the city itself was damaged." the blue haired man added with a smirk "There is no need to be so fussy about the little bit of damage."
"Little bit of damage?" Org raised his voice although he did not shout "Many acres of forest were lost to a forest fire caused by fire magic. Then there was the clean up of all those sharp bones that were jutting out of the ground which were more than dangerous for anyone getting close to it.. The removal of those bones took nearly full day because they were that hard. And you call that little? You may be the youngest member to become part of this council Siegrain but you could stand to be more respectful to the senior members, Ninth Seat."
The grey haired man shot his colleague a dark look at the young mans dismissal of his concerns.
While the seats nine through two were essentially equal in the power they held, only the first seat and chairman holding decidedly more power than those below him, a higher seat usually denoted seniority and thus more experience which would lend more weight to the words of the person in question.
And Org certainly didn't like Siegrains impudent attitude even if the man held considerable magic power.
"Young Siegrain does have a point Org." Belno, an elderly woman with blonde hair admitted "I may be equally as fond of Fairy Tail's antics as you are but this time there were no complaints and damage reports from people inside of the city. Whoever the second person that fought that day was, had at least the presence of mind to keep the fight out of the city itself."
"We should be thanking this mysterious individual for taking care of one of Orochimaru's loyal minions for us after all this Dark Mage has been eluding the council for close to two decades now, has he not?" Siegrain asked rhetorical as the whole topic seemed to bore him. If he didn't need the council to complete his R-System he wouldn't even bother with these old and rigid geezers. Most of them seemed to be only capable of complaining, more often than not about some kind of damage Fairy Tail had caused.
"By the way, do we finally know who this unknown mage is?" the blue haired youth decided to ask
"I'm afraid not." the chairman Crawford Seam declared as he finally joined the discussion "The King refuses to divulge the information."
"What a shame." Siegrain muttered in disappointment. The report from the Rune Knights about the Ethernano level in the area seemed to suggest that both of the mages were, at the very least, S-Rank in strength considering that even a whole day after the fight the air was still saturated with Ethernano. An S-Ranked mage popping out of no where with even the King refusing to reveal his identity was intriguing enough for Jellal to become interested. Furthermore the person didn't seem to be affiliated with any known guild and didn't have any qualms about killing, going by the completely scorched and burnt body that was found at the scene of the fight. Jellal wondered if he, perhaps, could persuade said mage to help him with his plan of reviving Zeref via the R-System.
"A shame? This is preposterous." Org complained his perpetually closed eye twitched "We are the ultimate authority of mages in this country. Even the King should not be able to obstruct our investigation like that."
"Alas, Org we are still citizen of Fiore." Crawford stated staring at the second seat "As such we must still obey the King's wishes even if they end up obstructing us in our work."
The bearded man stroked his beard in an attempt to calm himself down "I know." he forced himself to say with a heavy sigh escaping his bearded lips "Nevertheless it is vexing. I don't want to have to deal with another source of recurring, large scale, enviromental damage."
Many of the other members nodded in agreement as they wished to avoid that as well.
-Undisclosed Location, Orochimaru's Hideout-
"Kukukuku." the snake like man, Orochimaru, laughed darkly "Kimimaro ended up failing as well. How very interesting, how very, very, interesting." Many people would be considerably more angry if one of their most prized mage's were defeated and killed but Orochimaru was different from the norm. Normally it would have bothered him somewhat that a useful asset like Kimimaro had been lost but he had taken a considerable interest in Naruto or, as he was once known by the moniker, Crimson Reaper.
After the rumors of what had happened to Konoha had been told to him he had laughed at the irony of the quaint, peaceful village being wiped from the face of the earth, at least in regards to its population. All the buildings were still very much standing but nobody ever dared to set foot into the massacre town.
Although despite the number of people that had been killed it was no exceptional job. Sarutobi had always been a much better teacher than a fighter. Considering that four of his students at one point had been considered for a post among the Ten Wizard Saints and all but one had declined but even Minato had never managed to get the post, having died before the formalities had been sorted out. Nevertheless while some undoubtly talented individual's were from Konoha they were very few. The simple fact that three people of the same age had been blessed with the talent to make use of magic had already been something very rare for the village. So Hiruzen was very likely the only magic user that had fought the Reaper that day. As such he had merely believed him to be an upstart dark mage with a grudge against Konoha. After that many minor killings with the Reaper's MO had been reported and eventually he had met his end at the hands of a young, recently promoted, S-Rank Mage from Fairy Tail. This had the effect of him losing all the interest he had in learning more about that mage until, by pure chance, the boy had been alive after all and had somehow found his way into one of his, recently abandoned, hideouts. Originally he had thought that Jiraiya had caught wind of him and thought to lay a trap for his old 'friend' but when the Reaper had been the one standing in the underground hall he felt quite intrigued by the young boys unique magic. Of course merely shaping blood into weapons was not the most breathtaking, it had an aesthetic appeal Orochimaru could share but that was not what the pale faced man found the most interesting.
The boy had used multiple, radically different, types of magic. While of course something that could very well be possible the boy's proficiency had been on the level of people that had been using these types of magic for years. As such Orochimaru had hypothesized that there was an additional aspect to the boys magic. Something like a forced Magic transfer.
Magic transfer was something only mages with a certain level of power could use. They transfered their ability to use a certain kind of magic to another mage. There were of course some other types of magic that allowed someone to temporarily gain and make use of a type of magic they did not train in but those were merely temporary. Naruto seemed to gain these types of magic on a more permanent base. However Orochimaru had yet to confirm his hypothesis. If his hypothesis proved to be correct he would be a big leap closer to fulfilling his dream.
"...ma... richimaru-sama... Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto's voice rang out shaking the snake like dark mage out of his musings
"What is it Kabuto?" the man's amber eyes glinted dangerously, he didn't like it if people interrupted his train of thoughts. He was a lot more lenient with Kabuto, since the man was his right hand and the last dependable mage under his command but he was still annoyed.
"I was asking what course of action we are going to take now that Kimimaro is...indisposed." Kabuto's voice held a noticeable amount of smugness as he mentioned the Bonemancer's fate "Would you like me to go out and deal with Naruto-kun myself?"
"No." Orochimaru said immediatley as a grin spread across his face "If my hypothesis is correct he will have gotten our location from Kimimaro-kun."
Kabuto adjusted his glasses "Would it then not be more prudent to relocate if you do not intent to send me out to get him for you, Orochimaru-sama?" the grey haired mage asked in confusion
"There is no need for that. I will take care of the boy myself." the snake like man stated maliciously "He will come for me guranteed so all I need is to patiently wait for him."
"Are sure it is needed for you to deal with him yourself?" Kabuto asked "I would be perfectly willing to deal with him myself."
Suddenly the Ghost Surgeon saw the vision a giant snake killing him horribly with him not being able to do anything as Orochimaru's dark aura weighed down on him "Are you questioning my judgement Kabuto?" the man hissed angrily
"...No." Kabuto answered hesitantly after having incurred Orochimaru's wrath "I merely think that it is unnecessary for you to deal with the boy when I could do so myself."
Orochimaru sneered at his right hand man "I will deal with the boy myself, it will be a much more efficient way than sending another person after him. Now be silent Kabuto."
Kabuto nodded, abiding by his masters wishes.
Very soon everything would fall into place. Of that Orochimaru was sure.
-Crocus, Mercurius Palace entrance-
Naruto had spent the last few days recovering from his injuries and had observed Hisui as she kept trying to get her Crystal constructs to move of their own accord.
His external wounds had healed quite quick considering that his Blood Magic afforded him passively with a minor form of regeneration. And his fractured bones healed nearly as quick which Naruto attributed to the Skeletal Magic he had taken from Kimimaro. His bones were definitely sturdier although not on the same level as Kimimaro. The boy had used Skeletal Magic nearly all his life which had resulted in the white haired boys bones being able to contend with steel. While he was able to take the knowledge of how to use the magic he could not copy the physiological changes to the same extent as someone with more than a decade of practice. His body had somewhat adapted to his new capability to use the bone magic but that was it. The blonde supposed he was lucky that he had been unconscious as the change happened because he suspected that the quick way of strengthening his bones had involved them breaking and then being quickly mended. Even a single cycle of that would be very painful. On a related matter he had tried to make use of the Skeletal Magic but had quickly learned that forcing your bones through your skin hurt a considerable amount and the resulting feeling of lacking certain bones and then spending magic to force your body to regrow them was a horrible and uncomfortable feeling to say the least of it.
'Kimimaro had to have an incredible high pain tolerance.' the blonde thought to himself quite a bit impressed by his last opponents strength 'Probably why the guy managed to keep going despite having his body covered in burning oil.'
While the fight against the Bone mage had been pretty annoying he could respect Kimimaro's combat strength and tenacity. Now that he had finished what he came for he would be leaving the palace and capital behind him. He was standing at the entrance to the palace with the King and the Princess to bid him farewell.
"Will you really be leaving us already?" the small King asked his expression visibly sad. Toma had really enjoyed the young blonde's presence he had made the days so much more enjoyable but most importantly he had made Hisui very happy. The way Naruto and his daughter traded affectionate gestures reminded him of the time with his wife.
"Yes." Naruto nodded and bowed "I thank you once again for allowing me to get a glimpse into the vast stores of knowledge."
"No need to bow Naruto, my boy." the King commented with a chuckle "I told you, you don't need to be so formal. Besides what you did for Hisui-chan was worth a thousand, nay, a million books out of that stuffy archive."
Hisui's green eyes glistened with unshed tears.
"D-do you really have to go?" she asked with quivering voice. She did not want her first friend and love to leave her. She wanted the blonde to stay at her side and to see him every day. The blonde enveloped her into a warm and tight hug.
"I'm sorry that I have to leave but I have to keep travelling and expanding my knowledge." he said out loud before his voice grew to a quiet whisper as he leaned closer to her face, until his mouth was next to her ear "I have found a lead on Zeref that I need to investigate." he said in a way that only Hisui would hear.
His green haired student's eyes widened ever so slightly. If that was true then she could not keep him here, tied down. However the thought of him leaving still hurt her as silent tears rolled down her face.
She bit her lip "What about my training?" she whispered questioningly
"You've done well to learn everything I taught you." he spoke with pride "You learned the basics at an exceptional rate and the rest you can only learn through experience." he whispered back
After his tips and the provided incentive of kisses Hisui had worked meticulously at getting behind the last thing she needed to learn from him. She tried again and again and again and failed and failed and failed. Until one night, close to exhaustion she had finally made the puppet move on its own. She had been so happy that she, quite literally, leaped into his arms and pulled him, brazenly, into the kiss he had promised her.
He raised his voice back to a normal level "I will miss you too, Hisui-chan." he put on a bittersweet smile and inflected his voice with just the right amount of sadness and longing.
The green haired girl raised her teary face and gave her teacher a quick peck on the cheek as she didn't dare to kiss him on the mouth with her father present. She knew that her father approved of Naruto but a kiss on the mouth might be a bit much for him.
"Be careful." she asked of him and wished that he would stay save during his investigation of what would very likely be a dangerous lead. Anything connected to Zeref was dangerous.
"I will be." he assured her and broke the hug between them. He waved the King, Princess and the guards that had silently observed them goodbye as he made his way back into the city. He would finally get to pick up his most pricey investment, the armor he had made Heart Kreuz make for him.
"Don't be so sad, Hisui-chan." Toma said, trying to cheer his daughter, who was still crying, up "You are going to see your boyfriend again."
Despite her crying the green haired girl led out an indignant shout "Daaaad!" which caused no small amounts of amusement among the King and the guards guarding the castle entrance
Naruto looked up at the sign which read Heart Kreuz. He nodded to himself and walked inside. Once again he was greeted by the large assortment of female clothing that was displayed in the front of the store.
The same blonde haired, pale skinned girl he had met almost a month ago was at the counter.
"Welcome to Heart Kreuz, what can I do for you?" she asked amicably, perfectly reciting the greeting for new customers.
"I would like to pick up my armor. It should be finished around this time." Naruto stated with a hint of impatience filling his voice and the young clerk looked a bit taken aback
"Yes, of course." the girl nodded quickly, as she seemed to remember him going by her nervous demeanour "The armor is in the back."
Naruto was once again led past the counter into the back. On a simple wooden armor display hung his freshly forged armor.
A lot of the armor wasn't closed. The metal twisted and turned with spaces between the metal spines. The wrist armor wasn't closed either only half of it would fit on his arm. The plate boots and greaves seamlessly joined into one going up the length of his legs up to his thighs while the pelvis area would be covered in a larger plate belt. In the center of the top half of the armor was a large crystalline orb, a lachryma.
"Ah, there you are." Brigh, the large amazonian woman, said as she spied Naruto "I had to compromise a bit, the materials were more expensive than I imagined. It's why you don't get a full plate armor, just some sporadic covering on specified parts. The rest is a bit airy but it should protect quite well."
Despite having to make cuts in terms of his complete design he was still okay with the armor.
"Of course you'll get a bit more mobility than you would from a full plate armor as a trade off. Also as a small token of apology and because you spent quite a lot of money here we have something else for you." the bronze skinned woman turned to the much smaller clerk "Julie get the suit."
The blonde haired girl nodded "Just a moment please." after a few moments the girl returned with two pieces of black cloth. Naruto gave it a confused gaze.
"You weren't expecting to wear the armor just like that were you?" the blacksmith shook her head in amusement. Naruto put on the suit, which was perfectly form fitting and clinging to his body.
"And now you get to put on your armor." she said with pride at the mention of her creation "Just put a bit of magic into the armor to bind it to yourself, it should activate the mechanism automatically."
The blonde did as he was told and the metal spines pulled back into the central strand leaving just a small, straight line of metal going from the lachryma which was just below his head down to his stomach area. He placed the piece of metal onto his body and pushed another bit of his magic into it. The metal spines moved out of the centre and wrapped snugly all around his body with the arm guards, boots, greaves and the pelvis guard appearing after all of the protective casing had finished extending.
The blonde did a few test stretches to see how well he would be able to move in the armo and found it to be suitable.
"Well done." he praised the blacksmith for his new armor and stored it into his requip space before putting his previously clothes, another copy of the clothes the King had first given him, on.
"I will be on my way then." without another word he left the blacksmith and the clerk of the Heart Kreuz shop behind him.
The young girl rushed back to her post at the front of the store where a line of slightly disgruntled girls had formed and the large blacksmith went back to her work at the forge.
Using the directions Kimimaro had unwillingly provided him with he had found the undeground hideout which Orochimaru was using to hide himself.
The entrance had been carefully hidden behind a false wall of rock. He walked through the projection and descended into the snakes den.
There was the remote possibility that Orochimaru had switched his hideout and was no longer here but considering how badly he had wanted to capture Naruto the chance of that happening was very slim.
With a quick application of Requip he had switched into his protective armor. The previously colorless lachryma now thrummed a bright crimson, courtesy of his own magic power.
As he descended further and further below the ground and into the belly of the beast the lights on the walls lit up on their own.
"It seems like he is expecting me already." Naruto muttered to himself as he noted that only specific lights lit up when he came upon intersections. Orochimaru was clearly ushering him to where the snake was waiting for him.
The whole complex seemed surprisingly empty but most of the space probably was meant to confuse any intruder.
"Hey!" a voice called out and he turned to a masked individual who fired a blast of fire at him, to stop his advances. Only the person quickly found his head flying from his body sending a fountain of blood spraying into the air. He quickly absorbed all the blood into himself for use in the future.
He opened the door at the end of a hallway and entered the spacious throne like room Orochimaru had fashioned himself.
"Always so messy Naruto-kun." Orochimaru chuckled in amusement at the demise of one of his henchmen
The pale faced, snake like man sat upon a stone throne. It looked quite uncomfortable but Orochimaru didn't seem to be bothered by that. The amber eyes of the man were focusing intently on the blonde eyeing the young man hungrily.
To his side Kabuto was watching the scene unfold without any comments of his own.
"I hope that this time you are actually here in person instead of being a mere thought projection." Naruto spat, he had enough of thought projections "Or maybe you had planned to have four eyes fight me before you step into the ring yourself."
"Kukuku." Orochimaru was more than amused by the young mans behaviour "No. Kabuto-kun will remain an observer. I will deal with you myself."
"What an honor." the blonde said mockingly and with a raised hand sent one of his signature Golem Fists at the snake like man.
"So impatient." the pale faced man released a high pitched laugh as he watched the stone fist fly towards him without any care in the world "Great Breakthrough." without standing up from his sitting position he swept his hand in front of him and a strong gust of wind blew towards the object in flight. The gust of wind had enough strength to easily block the stone fist and send it careening to the side. The gust of wind kept sweeping towards Naruto who braced himself against the gust of wind and barely managed not to get swept off, of his feet by the powerful air current.
"You have to come up with something better than that if you want to hurt me." Orochimaru smirked down, from his position, at his target and pulled himself up from his seated position.
There wasn't any grand display of magic or a show of light that indicated that Orochimaru had used magic, the pale skin of the dark mage merely turned scaly. That was enough to tell Naruto that the man had used Snake Magic or more accurately Snake Body Transformation Magic.
The man's forked tongue flicked out of his mouth tasting the stale underground air.
"Lets see you keep up, little Reaper." the dark mage said and suddenly he shot towards Naruto with all the nimbleness of a snake. Something as rigid as a stone golem would never be able to keep up with Orochimaru in that state.
"Mudslide." he denied the man his straight approach by creating the rapid current of mud "Wolf of Light." a bright glowing construct of light formed out of light and with a howl it shot towards the pale faced man who had dodged to the right to escape the river of mud "Flamestrike." he marked the ground just behind the wolf of light blocking the snake like man's vision with the pillar of fire. In a mere instant the wolf had been reduced back into particles of light with a single, swift punch from Orochimaru before he shot through the pillar of fire, unfazed by the heat.
As Orochimaru had charged out of the flaming piller a torrent of flames courtesy of Naruto's Firestorm spell engulfed the scaled mage.
"Adamantine Binding Chains." from Naruto's hands shot pale, yellow, glowing chains into the fire and bound around the target inside of them. Giving a sharp tug he pulled the strongly burnt body from the inferno and slammed the body into the ground, cracking the stone tiles beneath Orochimaru's body.
The soon to be corpse of Orochimaru merely grinned towards Naruto and faded away. Before Naruto could turn around a scaled fist impacted against his face which sent the blonde flying into the air.
Orochimaru rushed after the airborne body, easily keeping up with the speed at which it was travelling.
The pale man clasped his hands together and swung it down on Naruto's back bringing him crashing down into the ground.
Naruto was certainly grateful for the protection his armor provided him with otherwise that hit to his back would certainly have done more damage.
He quickly reacted to the approaching presence of Orochimaru. He placed his index and middle finger onto his forehead and drew on his magic "Sweep away the darkness, Rain of Light!" and from his extended palm rained multiple rays of light towards Orochimaru whose increased agility allowed him to weave inbetween the multiple beams of light and allowed him to unleash a barrage of swift attacks onto his target. Thankfully the damage of the blows was lessened thanks to his armor.
Although Naruto could definitely feel his body aching and bruising under the armor. Orochimaru was seriously strong despite his more speed focused attacking style.
The pale man ran circles around him, striking him from Naruto's blind spots.
"Blinding Light." a bright flash of light burst outwards from Naruto as he hoped to use the blinding light to temporarily disable the infamous mage and allow for a counter attack but the man didn't stop his assault.
Fists and legs kept hammering into his body, against his armor. He noticed a small barely noticeable film covering the amber eyes of the pale man.
'Shit.' Naruto cursed inwardly. He had completely forgotten the membrane that snakes could pull over their eyes. It had largely negated the bright flash of light his spell created.
He would have to use something else that would deter Orochimaru from continuing his melee assault.
Gathering more magic, yellow light started to bleed off of his body and started cracking open the ground beneath himself "Giants Wrath."
It was a spell that continously drained his magic power to create a destructive aura of light around him. Anything without resistance like the ground was simply torn apart, stone was smashed into tiny bits.
"Seems like you are taking more and more pages out of Sensei's and Minato's book." Orochimaru stopped his assault to take in the blonde boy as he was exuding an aura of destructive light "Let's see how long you can actually keep this up." Orochimaru raised his right hand "Phantom Blades." a ring of translucent blades spiralled around the blonde. With a flick of his wrist the first blade shot towards the blonde and the aura lashed out. An arc of light shot towards the incoming object only to shoot straight through it, exposing it as nothing more than an illusion.
Naruto ignored the blades considering they were nothing more than illusions and focused back onto the snake like man who was observing him intently. The mans dark amber eyes glinted as the illusory blades kept circling around him, occasionally darting forward only to get removed by the aura of the Giants Wrath spell.
"Crystal Make: Spikes." placing his palm onto the ground spikes of crimson burst from the ground, rapidly making their way towards the pale faced man "Crystal Make: Shuriken." a barrage of ruby shuriken sailed towards Orochimaru as he dodged out of the way of his previous assault and countered the Shuriken by use of another Great Breakthrough spell, blowing the projectiles out of the air.
Using the strong air current he released another Fire Storm towards Orochimaru. The torrent of flames was increased in potency courtesy of being fed by the gust of wind.
"Spear of Stone." the stone beneath Naruto ripped open and a large straight piece of stone flew towards Orochimaru in the shadow of the ranging inferno.
Naruto saw the blades around him disappear and dropped his Giants Wrath spell to conserve magic power.
Out of the inferno stumbled a burnt body with a large stone spike lodged in the midsection. Red blood dripped to the ground as the person groaned in pain and fell to the ground.
Naruto didn't presume Orochimaru to be dead until he had drained the very life from the man. As such it was no surprise when suddenly the mouth of the body opened and a large brown snake slithered out of the orfice. The beast moved along the ground at great speed and lunged towards Naruto, fangs bared.
"Crimson Blade." blood surged through the pores of Naruto's skin out into the open and formed a small sword in his hands. With a quick strike the snake was cut into half and Naruto ducked under the attack he sensed coming from behind him "Massacre of a thousand bloody needles." more blood burst out from beneath his skin and along with the blood from the crimson blade in his hands thousands of razor sharp needles hovered in the air and shot behind him.
Another gust of wind veered the needles off course, scattering thousands of droplets of blood all over the ground.
"Ahh finally." Orochimaru seemed highly pleased for some reason "Your famed Blood Magic. I thought you would never use it." the pale man seemed almost disappointed at that thought " Come on, show me more, little Reaper." the man chuckled darkly and blasted the boy away with another gust of wind.
So far all of Naruto's attacks had proven ineffective. It was as if Orochimaru was merely toying with him. Something that didn't sit well with Naruto as it meant that he had either severely misjudged his own power or that of Orochimaru neither of these options particularily appealed to him.
However he would not give up. He would have his revenge against Zeref and Orochimaru would not stop him from achieving that.
"You want more?" Naruto muttered, teeth gritted "I'll give you more." The droplets of blood that had been scattered over the ground rose and coalesced together "Tides of Blood."
Three crimson streaks of blood moved over the ground towards the dark mage "Chain Lightning." a bolt of magic seeking lightning followed closely behind the blood and as Orochimaru dodged out of the path the lightning adjusted its course and homed towards Orochimaru. The snake like man simply caught the bolt in his hands and deflected it into the ground, causing a cloud of smoke and rubble to explode from the spot that had been hit.
"Do you think I haven't seen all those spells you keep flinging at me?" the man asked offended "I have seen them dozens if not hundred of times when I sparred with Hiruzen-sensei in my youth. If you keep clinging to the old man like that you will not beat me."
Futily Naruto kept flinging magic at Orochimaru. Darkness, Ice, Poison, Solid Script, Sound, Water, Wind. Nothing worked. Either Orochimaru dodged or blocked the magic nearly effortlessly.
Eventually Naruto was on the ground, panting in exhaustion at having used up nearly all of his magic.
"What a shame and here I thought someone that managed to beat some of my most valuable underlings would put up more of a fight than you did but apparently I was wrong." Orochimaru sighed dejectedly before a sadistic grin formed on his face as another translucent blade formed in his hands "But I guess I can allow myself to have some more fun with you. As long as you are alive and your body is largely in tact little else matters."
Despite being down on the ground and exhausted he would not yield to Orochimaru "Heh, Illusions can't hurt me." the blonde mocked despite his position on the ground
"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Orochimaru said in a way that implied that he knew something Naruto didn't. He raised the translucent blade and swung it down on the blonde's arm.
Naruto scoffed at the action until the blade touched him. He cried out in pain as he clutched his stump...no arm? The moment the sword had moved through his arm it had felt exactly as if it had been cut from his body. But his arm was still there. All that remained was the unimaginable pain of having a limb cut from his body.
"What was that?" Naruto asked through gritted teeth as he cradled his arm
"Kukuku." the pale faced man smirked knowingly "Usually you would be correct. Illusions can not hurt you. They are merely meant as a distraction or to break the targets will but after decades of using this magic, researching magic and many experiments I have managed to...branch out of typical Illusion Magic." Orochimaru explained with pride "While my Illusions can not actually affect the physical world your mind is still being tricked into thinking they do. I have muddled the realm between the real and unreal between the physical and mental. You experience the pain exactly as you would had it happened for real." the blade in the mans hands stabbed it towards the blondes stomach and pierced into it.
Naruto flailed his arms in pain as the sword remained stuck in his stomach. Orochimaru's eyes glinted darkly as he twisted the illusory blade around causing more and more pain to Naruto who screamed out in agony.
Naruto stared blankly into nothingness. Occasionally his face contorted into a pained grimace but beyond that he looked entirely unresponsive.
Kabuto pushed his glasses up "I am sure you are having your fun Orochimaru-sama but would it not be prudent to finish things up?" the grey haired mage asked his master who gave an amused laugh
"Perhaps you are right." a pale hand rose up and snapped his fingers. The sound reverberated throughout the large hall and with a loud cry of pain the blonde collapsed to the ground, panting in exhaustion and wincing in pain.
Naruto scanned his surroundings to see that the enviroment had not been damaged in the slightest. He had not moved from his position in front of the stone throne and Orochimaru was still sitting upon it.
"T-this was all an illusion?" Naruto asked with a slight amount of panic. If Orochimaru had simulated that entire fight inside of his head. If everything had been merely illusions then he was more outclassed than he had ever been. It was a truly terrifying thought.
"Indeed, Naruto-kun." Orochimaru confirmed "The moment you stepped in front of me I had you deeply ensnared into my illusion."
"Then why am I so exhausted?" he demanded to know. If he had never really cast any of the spells then he should not be feeling exhausted like that.
"Did you already forget that magic is a product of your spirit, of your mind?" the man asked with a raised eyebrow "Your mind thinks it casted all these spells consequently you are exhausted. Your magic simply bled off of you in that time."
With his question answered the blonde decided to ask another question. "How are you so strong? You may be Saint Level but this..." Naruto trailed off even for a Saint Level mage trapping someone in such a deep, elaborate and powerful illusion was incredible "This is more something that is on the level of the Gods of Ishgar."
The Gods of Ishgar were four mages, so powerful that common mages no longer counted them among the level of mere mortals. Naruto had never faced one and among the knowledge he had, no one had met one either but this is what he expected one to be like. An unparalleled ability in their chosen magic.
"While Jiraiya squandered his talent through his obsession with the female body and Tsunade gambled it all away, I kept tirelessly improving myself. Both of my old 'friends' are no longer on the same level as I." Orochimaru stated however he didn't really explain anything at all "You know, you remind me of myself when I was young. Ambitious, not afraid to get your hands dirty and ready to sacrifice anyone to achieve your goals. It's the reason I favored illusions. I was so adept at telling everyone what they wanted to hear, at showing them what they wanted to see that illusions were a natural fit for me. It helped me keep up the image of the polite, genius, Orochimaru. Young, troubled Orochimaru. Driven by the loss of his family." the snake like man scoffed "It was so easy to fool everyone, especially Hiruzen-sensei. Even back then the old fool only saw the good in others and even after word spread who I really was he could not bring himself to stop me. Not that he could had he tried to. He was always a better instructor than fighter." he chuckled "But whereas I could let go of everything and completely focus on my goals you still pathetically clung to the old man and your father. You are unable to let go of these pathetic people and that is why you are weak." Orochimaru actually giggled "Did you perhaps somewhere deep down think if you clung to these things that you would be able to gain some sort of redemption that you would somehow gain atonement for the people you killed?"
Naruto remained silent as his eyes were cast to the ground.
"Nevermind, I don't need to know the answer." Orochimaru finished and rose from his seat "Now you will be sacrificed for my ambition. You will bring me one step closer to immortality. Too bad for you I only need your body and not your mind." Naruto felt the build up of magical energy "Illusion Magic: Secret Spell: Sword of Totsuka." like water a fluid blade snaked and flowed into Orochimaru's hand
Was Orochimaru actually right? Did he hope for some kind of redemption? He had many different styles of magic in his repertoire and yet he had used Light Magic a lot. More so than others, except perhaps Earth Magic. Had he clung to this particular style of magic because his father had used it? Because he had felt guilty and tried to make it up to the old man?
He didn't know. His emotions were raging in tumult. But what he did know was that he couldn't simply die like that. Even if he was on the ground like this, there was still one last thing he could do. One last surprise to, maybe, muck Orochimaru's plan up.
Lachrima's could fulfill different purposes. They could be used for communication, used to watch movies but his was used to store his magic. This magic could then be released.
He concentrated on his magic power in the lacrima and called it forth. Crimson magic power surged forth in an unrefined blast of pure power. The magic power he had accumulated during the trip to Orochimaru's base was enough to punch a small hole through the mans midsection giving Naruto enough time to latch onto his leg in a last ditch effort to survive.
"You little pest." Orochimaru groaned out in pain and stabbed the Sword of Totsuka down, towards the blonde boy but mere moments before the sword would have pierced Naruto the pale man fell back. The sword had disappeared and the pale skin looked dried up and mummified.
"Transfusion, success." the blonde declared victoriously before his head flared with pain, as his brain tried to sort through the onslaught of information. He saw the sickening deeds and experiments Orochimaru had conducted, on himself and on others. The reason he had been so strong was that he had discovered something called 'Second Origin' inside of the bodies of mages. A second, hidden, container of magic power. Unlocking it with various drugs and treatments had exponentially increased the man's power. It was no surprise how the man had been so strong. Nevertheless all those experiments Orochimaru had performed were nauseating even for someone like him.
He closed his eyes for a short moment as he tried to come to terms with everything.
Just like Orochimaru he now saw the similarities between the man and himself. Was he really on the path to become someone like that man? Indiscriminately making use of everyone else, killing those with no use to him, conducting inhuman experiments for selfish benefits.
Naruto gave a sigh as he contemplated the facts only to be rattled from his thoughts by clapping.
Kabuto, who had been completely silent, was clapping.
"Well done, Naruto-kun." he praised "I think Orochimaru-sama didn't expect that." the man laughed softly as he adjusted his glasses "Quite ingenious really. The magic and the build up of it were completely masked by what I assume is maginium. If your armor had not held the traces of maginium in them Orochimaru-sama would have dodged."
Naruto groaned. He didn't have enough energy in him for another fight, especially against someone on Kabuto's level "So what are you going to do? Avenge the snake face?"
"Nothing of the sort." the soft tapping of Kabuto's feet across the ground echoed as the gray haired youth walked towards the exit "Would avenging Orochimaru be of any use to me? I was never so fanatically loyal that avenging his death would bring me any amount of solace. I was merely someone that worked for Orochimaru-sama and now with his death I will simply look for another employee." he could feel the grin that was undoubtly on the bespectacled mans face "Perhaps we will meet once more in the future."
The echo of footsteps slowly faded as Kabuto got further and further away.
Slowly Naruto pulled himself up and wobbled out of the underground complex.
'I need rest.' his body groaned and protested as he pulled himself further and further until he fell against a tree. Since the decision had been made for him he turned around with his back leaned against the bark.
Slowly the grey clouds above began to drip their contents down on the earth below.
He shivered but endured the cold rain.
That was when he saw bright particles of light gather together. If someone was going to attack him now, he would not be able to stop them. He simply kept observing the spectacle. Slowly the bright blobs and dots of light took on a specific form. Eventually the light had arranged to form a human shape.
Naruto stared at the person in front of him. Spikey blonde hair which resembled his own, the same bright blue eyes he had. However this person was undoubtly older than him.
Even if he had never met this person Naruto knew him, knew who he was.
"Father." he whispered the word without much emotion. It was no question, no exclamation of surprise, shock, wonder, amazement, no outburst of anger or incredulity. It was merely a statement.
The blonde haired man nodded "Indeed, Naruto, my son." he smiled down at the boy
Sorry, for ending this chapter on a cliffhanger like that but I just felt that it worked best this way.
-Spell Grimoire-
Illusion Magic: Secret Spell: Sword of Totsuka Caster Type, Offensive, S-Rank Creator: Orochimaru
An Illusion spell created by Orochimaru himself. The power of this spell is so vast that a simple cut from this blade is enough to trap the targets mind in an eternal illusion with no way out.
Illusion Magic: Phantom Blades Caster Type, Offensive C+ -Rank
A very simple illusion that tricks the target into believing that he is surrounded by swords ready to pierce him.
Great Breakthrough Elemental Magic(Wind), Caster Type, Offensive,Defensive C+-Rank
A strong gust of wind whose strength can vary, depending on the strength of the user.
Spear of Stone Elemental Magic(Earth), Caster Type, Offensive B-Rank
A stone spear meant to impale its target.
Tides of Blood Blood Magic, Caster Type, Offensive A-Rank
Multiple buzzsaw like waves of blood move across the ground.
Crystal Make: Spikes Caster Type, Molding Magic, Offensive, C+-Rank
A multitude of crystalline spikes burst from the ground.
Adamantine Binding Chains Chain Magic ,Caster Type A-Rank
The caster creates an unusually strong set of chains to bind the target. However these Chains consume more magic than the usual set created by this magic.